More reasons to feed your kids fish: It helps them sleep better and nourishes their nervous system, study finds

Children who eat fish at least once a week have higher intelligence quotients (IQs) and enjoy better sleep. This was the conclusion that researchers from the University of Pennsylvania came to in their study, reported the DailyMail.co.uk. The study is the first of its kind to connect fish consumption to improved cognition and sleep.

As part of their research, the team analyzed a sample of 541 children from the China Jintan Cohort Study, who were between the ages of nine to 12 years old. The children were tasked with completing a questionnaire on how often they’d eaten fish in the last month. After this, they took the Chinese version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, a general intelligence test intended to measure the cognitive abilities of children. Each child had to undergo six verbal subtests and six non-verbal subtests that assessed their vocabulary, arithmetic skills, and coding capabilities, among others.

The children’s parents became involved in the study as well. Specifically, the parents were given the standardized Children Sleep Habits Questionnaire, which covered such questions as daytime sleepiness and sleep duration. In addition, the researchers also took into consideration covariates like the parents’ educational attainment, occupations, and marital status when scrutinizing their gathered data.

Speaking of her team’s findings, Jennifer Pinto-Martin stated that they had great implication on the health impact of fish. “It adds to the growing body of evidence showing that fish consumption has really positive health benefits and should be something more heavily advertised and promoted. Children should be introduced to it early on,” she told ScienceDaily.com.

Pinto-Martin added that children as young as 10-months-old could be fed fish, as long as it no longer contained bones and had been chopped up. Two years old, she noted, was another good age to encourage children to eat fish. As she explained it: “Introducing the taste early makes it more palatable. It really has to be a concerted effort, especially in a culture where fish is not as commonly served or smelled. Children are sensitive to smell. If they’re not used to it, they may shy away from it.”

Adrian Raine, Pinto-Martin’s co-author on the study, echoed her statements. According to him, incorporating fish into a child’s diet was highly beneficial and better for their overall health. “Doing that could be a lot easier than nudging children about going to bed. If the fish improves sleep, great. If it also improves cognitive performance — like we’ve seen here — even better. It’s a double hit,” said Raine.